SINGAPORE (UPI) — Senior business executives in the Pacific Basin are guardedly optimistic that China's economy will achieve a soft landing, a survey released Wednesday showed.

The survey of members of the Pacific Basin Economic Council indicated most respondents were relatively pleased with the Chinese central government's efforts to rein in rampant investment and credit growth.

According to the poll conducted from Sept. 16-23, 59 percent of members considered the danger of overheating to be moderate and 31 percent viewed it as slight. The majority (62 percent) of executives also believed the Chinese government was doing a good job of tempering economic growth, while 33 percent ranked the efforts as fair. Some 79 percent said a soft landing was likely.

PBEC Chairman David Eldon, who is also chairman of HSBC Asia Pacific, said: "The government's cooling measures are clearly having an impact on the economy. Growth in fixed investments, industrial output and credit are showing signs of slowing down.

"We expect the government to continue to keep credit tight during the next few quarters. As a result, the economy is likely to slow to a more sustainable level."

Some executives, however, were concerned that some factors may make it difficult for China to pull off a soft landing. Clyde Prestowitz, President and CEO of the Washington-based think tank Economic Strategy Institute noted "The Chinese authorities are aware of their problem and moving expeditiously to deal with it. The solution, however, is not entirely in Chinese hands. Much also depends on the course of the U.S. economy. Any slowing in the U.S. would make a hard landing more likely in China."

Robert Lees, Executive Advisor to the U.S. multinational consulting group BearingPoint, also warned the health of the country's banking system continued to be China's Achilles' heel.